This is from a racing friend of mine, Tom. I know that we have wheel experts here, N8N?....

"I am curious about how to get longer wheel lug bolts. It is hard to install the thicker wall Weld Racing Wheels or any wheel for that matter because of the short length lug bolts. I would like to knock out all five and put in a bolt that is at least a 1/2 inch longer. Perhaps someone out there in forum land knows the exact number Napa lug or other brand that would simplify the approach.

I don't know if the taper is different on the disc brake rotor in comparison to the drum wheels. Another question to post.

For what it is worth, I measured two Avanti steel rims I have and they show a back spacing of 3.750 inches and a rim width of about 5 inches.

But on a pair of 64 GT Hawk steel wheels I got a 3.500 inch back space with a mere 4 inch rim width. Plus they want clear the disc brakes.

Then on an old Ford wheel I have the backspace is 4.00 inch with a 6 inch rim width.

I like the Ford rim because it is ok for P205 75R tires but I would think the backspacing would move the tire to much out when you factor in the wider rim width.

I know on my 71 Avanti I am putting together I could not use the old style Keystone Mag wheels because of the rim width and off set put the tire into the fender on turns. I have 4 nice rims and they are pretty much useless."

Sonny
http://RacingStudebakers.com

N8N

12-28-2004, 01:40 AM

One thing that I've discovered about Stude wheels is that as far as offset goes they were all over the place. After having drilled into my head the importance of scrub radius for proper handling and predictable behavior under braking imagine my surprise when I started measuring a pile of Stude wheels and found that the offset varied from 5/8" (Avanti II Magnum 500) to something like 1-3/8" (56J) depending on year and model. Of course the front end geometry is basically identical for everything 53-up (and probably a couple years before that as well, but that's where my knowledge starts.)

So basically, I would use whatever fits... unless someone wants to start dropping plumb bobs and figuring out exactly what the correct offset for a Stude should be (and I'm *almost* curious enough to waste a day doing it, just to satisfy my curiosity. Really the only thing stopping me is lack of free time and running Studebakers &lt;G&gt;)

FWIW I measured a 5.5" wide MoPar wheel at 3/4" backspace, which is pretty close to a stock Avanti 5" wheel...